CR scrape through to a 24-20 win over Army

by Ranjeeva Seneviratne

Runners-up of the Caltex 'A' Division League and Clifford Cup CR and FC scraped through to a 24 points (3 goals, 1 penalty) to 20 (1 goal, 2 tries, 1 penalty) win over a gallant Sri Lanka Army outfit in the quarter-finals of the Caltex President's Trophy knock-out Rugby Tournament played at Longden Place yesterday after leading 14-3 at the breather.

The Red-shirts dominated the first half to take a 14-3 lead but the soldiers fought back in the next 40 minutes to score three splendid tries to go down fighting. CR had a major share of possession with Anuja Perera striking a shade faster than his vis-a-vis Jayalal in the set-scrums while in the line-outs the CR duo of Karthelis and Gayan Fernando had the edge over Army's Ratnayake and Pushpakumara but their famed three-quarters could not make much headway with centres Mohamed Sherif and Lasintha de Costa being at the receiving end of some fierce tackling by their opposite numbers Asanka Perera and Ambuwangala which resulted in wingers Wekadapola and Pushpakumara being kept in cold storage.

Army surged into the lead in the fourth minute when full-back Kapila Knowlton fired across a 35-metre penalty. Ten minutes later the Red Shirts snatched the lead when off a short-tap scrum-half Zulki Hamid slung out a pass to flanker Senthil Kumar who scored by the corner-flag and made a splendid conversion to make it 7-3. In the 33rd minute off another short-tap in the Army '25' scrum-half Zulki Hamid sent out a pass to flanker Senthil Kumar who crashed through to score his second try by the corner-flag and made a spectacular conversion to make it 14-3 at 'lemons'.

In the 9th minute after resumption the soldiers reduced the deficit when full-back Kapila Knowlton kicked an up and under and winger Saliya Handapangoda who chased it collected the ball and slipped out a pass to centre Kanishka Ambuwangala who touched down mid-right. Knowlton missed the conversion. In the 17th minute CR won a scrum in mid-field and scrum-half Zulki Hamid made a break and slung out a pass to centre Udaya Hettiarachchi who sped over 20-metres to score by the corner-flag. Senthil Kumar made a brilliant conversion to make it 21-8 in favour of CR. Four minutes later Army won a scrum in the CR '25' and set their three-quarters in motion and winger Saliya Handapangoda put the finishing touches to the move by scoring by the corner-flag. Knowlton missed the conversion. CR 21-13. Three minutes later CR's Senthil Kumar made no mistake with a 35-metre penalty to make it 24-13. The Soldiers fought back and in the 39th minute off a quick short-tap in the CR '25' scrum-half Dharshana slung out a pass to substitute centre Duminda Wickramaratne who burst through to touch down under the posts. Knowlton added the extra points to make it 24-20 in favour of CR at the final whistle.

Referee Pradeep Fernando.